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Some investors may have the expertise, the time and the confidence to pick their own stocks and shares for their portfolio. But for most people, investment funds represent a more manageable and flexible way to benefit from the potential performance of worldwide stock markets.

What are investment funds?

Investment funds (also known as ‘collective investments’) make it easy for you to spread your portfolio across a number of different stocks and shares and other assets, without having to pick them individually.

The way it works is fairly straightforward. Under the supervision of a fund manager, an investment fund works by pooling together money from many investors to invest in a selection of assets, such as shares, bonds or property. These are known as the ‘underlying assets’.

This way, by investing in a number of funds you can spread your investments more widely compared with investing directly in the assets they hold.

Which funds are right for you?

How do you choose the right investment funds to meet your needs?

Your adviser will take you through the processes of risk-profiling and asset allocation, and will iron out much of the uncertainty involved in fund selection.

To give you the greatest choice and flexibility, we offer around 1,100 investment funds on our platform and provide plenty of tools to help your financial adviser choose the most suitable investment spread for your needs.

Each investment fund has its own objective outlining what it aims to achieve for its investors and its own particular mix of assets. This helps you and your financial adviser to match the right fund, or funds, to your attitude to risk.

An investment portfolio tailored for you

With the expert guidance of a financial adviser, investment funds can be used to build a portfolio that is easy to manage and tailored to your needs.

When selecting funds, your financial adviser will also take into account any personal preferences that you have. For example, you might want to include ethical or ‘socially responsible’ investments – or to avoid investing your money in industries you disapprove of. You might wish to concentrate on dividend-paying companies – or ones that reflect the growth of emerging economies.

There are also funds available that are specifically designed to match different risk levels as precisely as possible.